This blog includes a collection of years of stories, quotes & ideas that I am digitizing as I clean out my old, metal filing cabinets!

My online filing cabinet to share!

It is time to clean out and dispose of my many files but I am such a "keeper" that I can't just throw my years of stories, quotes, ideas, and memories away SO--- I am going to digitize them and put them in a blog to save in cyberspace as well. If anyone ever looks at this, I hope you find something that inspires creativity and fun energy!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

PRAYER

PRAYER

FHE Lesson and Story Ideas

LEARN ABOUT “Prayer Language”:

·Read article from
the Friend called “Prayer Languague”

·Use the “fill in
the blank” activity and fill in the “thee”, “thou”, “thy,” and “thine” by
looking up the scriptures(3 Nephi 13:
9-13)

·Look for “prayer
language” in the scriptures.

·Make a “flip book”
with “normal word” and “prayer language”-- or flash cards.

DISCUSS DIFFERENT TYPES OF
PRAYER AND WHEN WE USE PRAYER IN OUR DAILY LIVES

DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF
PRAYING SINCERELY AND THOUGHTFULLY

DISCUSS HOW PRAYERS ARE
ANSWERED

·Read “Just Around
the Corner” – sometimes answers to prayers are not what we want or expect, but
what the Lord knows is best.

·Read “Quiet
Prayers”

TELL SCRIPTURE STORIES ABOUT
PRAYER:

·Jesus in
Gethsemane – Matthew 26:36-46

·Enos – Enos 1

·Hannah – Samuel 1:1-20

·Daniel – Daniel 6

SET GOALS AS A FAMILY AND
INDIVIDUALLY FOR DAILY PRAYERS AND TO LISTEN DURING AND AFTER PRAYERS.

What
things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye
shall have them (Mark
11:24).

Have
you ever wondered what you might say or how you would address a very important
person, such as a king, queen, or president of a country? You would want to
show by your speech that you respected and honored this ruler. You might
practice saying “Yes, sir” or “No, ma’am” and review the proper way to shake
hands, bow, or curtsy.

There
is someone, more important than anyone on earth, with whom you can talk anytime
you choose. He is your Heavenly Father, and you speak with Him through prayer.
Just as you would try to be polite and courteous to an important ruler, there
are ways to show that you love and respect Heavenly Father. When you pray, you
can show that you reverence Heavenly Father by using proper prayer language.

When
Jesus was visiting the Nephites, He knelt and prayed to Heavenly Father. He
showed His respect by addressing His Father with the proper words: “Father, I
thank thee that thou hast given the Holy Ghost unto these whom I have chosen, …

You
can follow Jesus’ example by using words that show Heavenly Father that you
love and reverence Him. Use the words thee or thou instead of you, thy instead
of your, and thine instead of yours or your.

To
help you remember the proper words to use when you pray to Heavenly Father,
remember this verse:

Thee,
thou, thy, and thine

Are
special words that say

I
love my Heavenly Father

And
respect Him when I pray.

Instructions

These
songs are prayers to Heavenly Father. Fill in the blanks using reverent prayer
language. If you know the songs, you can sing them to check your answers.

1.
Make a copy of a prayer found in the scriptures, such as 3 Nephi 13:9–13, and
leave blanks for the words thee, thou, thy, and thine. Let the children look up
the scripture and fill in the blanks.

2.
Have children turn to a prayer in the
scriptures, such as 3 Nephi 19:20–23 [, 3 Nephi 19:28–29, or John 17, and count how many
times thee, thou, thy, and thine appear.

3.To
help children become accustomed to using proper prayer language, find
scriptures that include thee, thou, thy, and thine. Have the children look up a
verse to find a specific word. For example: Alma 33:11, second word—thou.
Have the children read or write the sentence in which the word is found.

4.Discuss
with the children the importance of praying sincerely and thoughtfully.

13 Andlead
us not into temptation,
but
deliver us from evil: For _________ is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.

“Do
you have prayers in your family?And
when you do, do you go through the operation like the grinding of a piece of
machinery, or do you bow in meekness and with a sincere desire to seek the
blessing of God upon you and your household?That is the way that we ought to do, and cultivate a spirit of devotion
and trust in God, dedicating ourselves to him, and seeking his blessings.”

John
Taylor

Quiet Prayers

By Patricia Russell

When I am very tired
at night,

I do not try to pray.

I only kneel and wait
awhile

To hear what God will
say.

Sometimes He smiles
and welcomes me

And bids me to draw
near.

I almost feel His
loving arms

And His whisper in my
ear.

Then if I listen, oh,
so still,

I almost hear Him
sing

A song of golden
ripened sheaves

And of the
harvesting.

So that is why of all
the day

My praying time is
best.

When I am tired and
come to Him,

He always gives me
rest.

Just Around the
Corner
-- By Colleen P. Moravec

If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God … But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. (James 1:5–6.)

Boy,
am I glad I didn’t know what was coming! I might have decided to pull the
covers up over my head and hide out for a while.But there I was, Mike Tucker, standing
unknowing in front of my bedroom mirror, adjusting my collar and giving my hair
another quick once-over.

Suddenly
there was a loud pounding on the door, and in barged my sister, Jill.

Grabbing
my jacket and the bag of munchies, I checked out with my parents, then hustled
down to Brother Moore’s car.

Brother
Moore is this real neat guy who moved into our ward a few months ago. He has a
great grin, a wacky sense of humor, and a ton of patience, so naturally they
made him our Primary teacher. It was his idea to drag the whole class over to
the Conlins’ house for a little party that late-August night.

Matt
Conlin is this gutsy classmate who’s been struggling with cancer and
chemotherapy. Over the past year, he’d gotten thinner, weaker, and balder; but
he always has a smile or a funny story whenever you see him.

We
were there that night to celebrate the fact that he was in remission and could
finally go back to school. He was a bit self-conscious about it, so we laughed
it up and teased him about all the girls he was going to impress with his
newfangled hairstyle.

“Yeah,
it’s different all right,” he answered with a lopsided grin. “But if it’s so
wonderful, how come you guys haven’t joined me?”

We
were still laughing about it when we got back into the car to leave.

“You
know, boys,” Brother Moore said, settling onto the front seat, “Matt’s putting
on a brave front, but he’s really going to need our support, especially the
first day he goes back to school.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel
a few seconds. “Let’s do something really special for Matt,” he said with enthusiasm.
“Come on—anybody have any great ideas?”

We
all looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. You had to be careful when
Brother Moore got excited about something!

“No
ideas now, huh? Well, you know what I always say—when in doubt, pray about it.”

So
right then and there we said a prayer to help us all think of something special
we could do for Matt to make his first day back at school easier.

“Now,
boys,” Brother Moore added as he eased out into traffic, “when you pray for
something, you have to be willing to listen for an answer. I want each of you
to go home and listen for your own answer, OK?”

He
made it sound so easy that I actually expected to wake up the next morning and
find that the answer had been deposited in my brain overnight.

Unfortunately
the next morning nothing was there that hadn’t been there before. By the next
night I was pacing nervously back and forth in front of my bed, going over all
the conversations I’d ever had with Matt, looking for a clue. The trouble was
that I couldn’t remember him ever asking anybody for anything. I thought back
to our party and his joking about the things that were really worrying him.

Immediately
a totally outrageous and not very welcome idea popped into my head. No, no, I
argued with myself, Matt was only joking. He’d never expect anyone to … I’ll
sleep on it, I reasoned. By morning the “real” answer will come to me.

But
three more days went by, and I decided that enough was enough! I didn’t like
the answer I’d gotten, but it was the only one I’d gotten and it kept sneaking
back into my head. So on the afternoon before school started, I mustered up as
much courage as I could and went around the corner to visit a barbershop.

What
happened when our Primary class went to pick up Matt for school the next day
was extra special. Eddy Kowalski, the kid who got a C- in English last year,
wrote one of the best poems I’ve ever read in my life. And Todd Stott and Larry
King got permission from the principal to carry Matt’s books and lunch tray
because he was still kind of weak. Every one of us had something special to
share with Matt that day, and it was really super!

Yep,
life is full of surprises. I wouldn’t have wanted to know that I’d end up bald
on the first day of school. But it’s sure nice to know that the answers are
there, right where you need them, just around the corner.